Sanders Applauds White House for Taking Social Security Off the Table in Deficit Talks

[freshwest]

Source: Bernie Sanders (Vermont Services Newsroom)

November 27, 2012

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today welcomed White House assurances that Social Security benefits won’t be cut as part of negotiations on a year-end deficit-reduction deal.

“This is a step in the right direction for more than 55 million Americans who have earned Social Security benefits today and every working American who will receive Social Security benefits in the future,” said Sanders, the founder of the Senate Defending Social Security Caucus. “The simple truth is that Social Security has not contributed a nickel to the national debt so it makes no sense for it to be part of deficit negotiations,” he said.

“The American people have been clear that Social Security is enormously important to their well-being and that it should not be cut. The election and poll after poll show clearly that the American people want the wealthiest people and the largest corporations in this country, who are doing phenomenally well, to play a significant role in reducing the deficit,” Sanders added.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday that Social Security should be addressed separately from the lame-duck deficit negotiations. “We should address the drivers of the deficit and Social Security currently is not a driver of the deficit,” Carney said.



Read more: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=cf62b3c8-54a6-4ace-ab5a-8996e7d16441

---

Just got this one this evening, falls within the time limit. Not posted anywhere else on DU per search results as this time, but will link it.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

1. WH spokesman said "Social Security SHOULD be addressed separately". And this is enough for cheers?

Even though it should be welcomed news that the White House has given "assurances that Social Security benefits won’t be cut as part of negotiations on a year-end deficit-reduction deal," the important thing to note is that White House is also signaling that Social Security cuts will be "addressed separately."

Senator Sanders has not concluded that the White House will not ultimately agree with the Republicans to make Social Security cuts but said with respect to the assurances

"This is a step in the right direction for more than 55 million Americans who have earned Social Security benefits today and every working American who will receive Social Security benefits in the future,"

If President Obama (and not some bloggers or posters speaking on his behalf) fully intends to obstruct all efforts to cut Social Security, there is nothing preventing him or his White House spokesman from clearly and unambiguously stating that.

[Scootaloo]

2. Sure there is.

It's called, "let's see how desperate the Republicans are." How far will the Republicans overextend themselves trying desperately to cut into the most popular benefits program in American history? if you unilaterally say "it's not for debate," then it can't serve as bait.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Sometimes a cigar is just...

ah, never mind.

They were just kidding about the free trade agreements too. Republicans never knew what hit them.

[Scootaloo]

26. Yes yes, he's an untrustworthy good-for-nothing shifty-eyed weasel

and we should feel bad for electing him.

C'mon Manny, I heard this song from Uncle Ruckus in the first season of the Boondocks, you don't need to keep singing it.

[MannyGoldstein]

34. Obama's not shifty-eyed, and we shouldn't feel bad for electing him

because we're presented with a choice, and we need to choose. Obama was the best choice, AFAIK, in the 2008 primaries and in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Hopefully we'll have better choices in the future.

[cui bono]

23. omg

Wait, so he really did throw the first debate on purpose then?

[Scootaloo]

25. I don't know.

But it clearly tears up several DU'ers that he still beat the shit out of Romney on November 6th, regardless.

[graham4anything]

27. it was called the rope-a dope and it worked brilliant. Me, Rev. Al Sharpton, Dennis Haysbert saw it

debbie downers, cutten runner, sad sams all whined and moaned

it worked well as the loser12 shot their loads and after that had no more ammo and were seen big time

It wasn't throwing it was the rope-a-dope, and it works wonderful except for the whiners, downers, cutten runners sad sams and idiots in the media as were Rachel and Ed that night.

KUDOS TO REV. AL SHARPTON and myself and others who saw the brilliance and defended President Obama.

same thing here. I for one know President Obama and his team is alot smarter than me
and I give him 100% trust. I have not been let down once, nor do I intend to be.

See-Lincoln the movie as Obama=Lincoln and how Lincoln outsmarted the 'wipes on the other side too.

[sabrina 1]

28. Plouffe lied about Medicare and Medicaid. If I did not know who he was I would have thought he

was a Paul Ryan teabagger. He said that Medicare and Medicaid were the 'chief drivers of the Deficit'.

That is an outright lie, and worse it is a Republican lie.

He should be fired for this. They are leaving Medicare and Medicaid on the table.

I suspect that the huge outcry over SS surprised them. Which is a surprise in itself but I guess they thought the left would be silent, as we were told to be, and refused to do so, since it is a Democrat in the WH.

Far from remaining silent this time Unions and Progressive Organizations and SS Advocacy Groups formed a huge coalition before the election stating that they 'did not trust Democrats not to bargain with SS, Medicare and Medicaid and this time, they wanted to be ready. That Coalition represents a vast majority of the American people. After the election, representatives of that Coalition actually were invited to the WH. Usually the WH ignores Progressive groups standing up for progressive causes because Rahm said, 'your ideas are retarded'. And realizing that, this Coalition was formed and supported by millions of Americans.

Thanks to Citizens applying this kind of pressure, it became difficult to leave SS on the table. It was made clear that we cannot be fooled with the weasel words.

Looks like that Coalition will have to go back and make it clear that with Plouffe publicly lying about Medicare and Medicare re the Deficit, they need clarification on behalf of the American people that those programs will also be removed from the table.

[forestpath]

35. +1

[Liberalynn]

36. These Coalition groups deserve a lot of the credit

for keeping SS off the table, AARP included. As does Harry Reid. President Obama does deserve thanks for agreeing with them to keep it off the table at least for the fiscal cliff talks.

I would be even happier with him if he adamantly states that Medicare is off the table as well as far as benefit cutting goes. If he wants to lean more heavily on Pharmaceutical companies, Health Insurers, and Health Providers to lower costs through higher efficency in a way that won't harm patient care, the nurses, orderlies, aids, etc. I am all for that. Just no cuts to benefits or cuts that would harm patient care.

[Faryn Balyncd]

44. Medicare should be OFF the table. Far better to drive over the "cliff".

[sheshe2]

4. Simply Stated...Yes I do believe that this is a time for cheers!

White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday that Social Security should be addressed separately from the lame-duck deficit negotiations. “We should address the drivers of the deficit and Social Security currently is not a driver of the deficit,” Carney said.

Let's just stand back for a minute and take a deep breath for a moment.

Addressing an issue and agreeing with it are two very separate things. I would like to see people give this President some breathing space before jumping on his back.

He won this incredible election! He has a mandate and he acknowledges that. He has only four years left. He knows what needs to be done for the American People. He will make it happen with the full support of the People backing him.

He is one man...he needs to hear our voice.We must stand by him. We must take his back.

Our President cannot do it alone.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

19. "Let's just stand back for a minute"? From the time that he took office and immediately engaged in

his perfidity of violating his promise to not appoint lobbyists to his Administration, there have been those who have claimed to have some special insight while saying such things as "You have to be patient. He's a chess player. You have to give him more time."

Now, four years later, after repeated actions which have been contrary to what many of us reasonably expected, there are others such as yourself who say "Let's just stand back for a minute ..."

No thank you. If anything, you stand back. Ever hear the phrase "Fool me once ..."? It's time to think about it.

[graham4anything]

29. yawn. I don't see one thing that you "ahem" claim in your rant above,so you don't fool me.

and as you keep taking this viewpoint, well,
you remind me of the boy who cried wolf, and the last sentence, well I say it back to you

'fool me once", now I just say YAWN

Hillary Clinton45 2017-2025 to continue on our path to Forward history.
haters in the media and on the right of President Obama and President to be Hillary be damned.

You know we are moving forward, by how much hatred on the right there is to both President Obama and Clinton(both of them)

[sabrina 1]

30. SS should never have been on any Deficit table in the first place.

Nor should there ever have been a 'Deficit Commission' if Obama had kept his word on that also. During the 2008 campaign he argued against these kinds of Commissions, stating that everything he did would be open to the public and that those Commissions were a way to 'do things out of sight of the people' and that they were 'an end run around Congress and the American people'. He was so right then, but once elected quickly changed his mind.

The people this time have decided they cannot afford to stand back and take a breath. They have learned that lesson and with so much at stake, it won't happen again.

While the people take a break, 80 CEOS who are spending hundreds of millions of dollars, are busy calling for cuts to SS, Medicare and Medicaid. This is what we the people are up against. Greedy, nasty CEOs who said that the people will have to used to 'expecting less' re SS. No, we won't.

So no, there is no time for breaks when the decks are so stacked against the American people. We have learned that we have to be as relentless as they are.

[limpyhobbler]

6. good point.

To be honest I don't think the War on Social Security is ever going to end as long as Wall Street and the top 1% are so powerful in our politics.

They might back off temporarily but they have unlimited money power to keep up their side of the war, either by direct means, or in a sneaky way, or whatever.

At least Social Security is off the table for the next couple months. The only thing to worry about now is everything else.

We deserve an ally in the Whitehouse, not someone that keeps us guessing. It's cruel actually. I really hope the Democrats get their act together in 2016 and nominate somebody a lot better.

[sheshe2]

10. "We deserve an ally in the Whitehouse, not someone that keeps us guessing."

"I really hope the Democrats get their act together in 2016 and nominate somebody a lot better."

I really hope I just misunderstood what you just said...it is late and I am tired. I do believe that you said that you want to elect someone better that Obama? Is that correct?

You did just vote in the last election did you not? I assume you did not vote for Rmoney. Correct?

This is the very same shit I saw a short time after the 2008 election. Elect him, then bash him. You give him no chance, you do not give him support. I ask you this, How can one man do this alone without the support of the very people that elected him!

Get a grip!

I support this President 100%. I will never back down on that. Not ever.

[JDPriestly]

21. Obama needs to remember to dance with the gals what brung him.

That's us, the real Democrats.

The Republicans did not vote for Obama. I worked extremely hard to get him re-elected, but I don't agree with his overly zealous efforts to "compromise." He needs to be tough as nails with the Republicans. The American people see through the Republicans -- the disloyal opposition. That's who they are.

We are sometimes the loyal opposition.

We should demand a lot of our president. We should never let him forget that he will need to come back and ask us to help him get a more favorable Congress in 2014. He needs us. We have a right to demand some loyalty from him since he is going to demand loyalty from us again.

I feel entitled to ask the President to be true to the ideals of the Democratic Party. He is not a free agent. We worked to get him elected.

[robinlynne]

38. +1000.

[cui bono]

24. He's had a chance.

And even if he excelled, that's no reason to stop pushing him for everything we want.

What you seem to think is that now that he's elected that's it, we can stay home and let him do his thing. Well, his thing isn't good enough. He did not do the people's work enough so far. He needs to get Wall Street and CEO's out of the administration and stop appointing the types of people he appointed. He needs to stop compromising so much that he meets in the middle before negotiations start so that it ends up further right. So much more but you get the drift.

Just because he is better than Romney doesn't make him perfect. Criticism and pushing him to do the right thing is not bashing. If anything, voicing our opinions and giving him the support in knowing that we are behind these ideas and pushing him to do it with us having his back IS supporting him. But I won't ever support the drone strikes, the free trade agreements, the Wall Street appointments, the lack of strong regulations, the back room deals with health insurance companies, the illegal wiretapping that he continues... there is so much to not support.

Okay, that was really rambling.... but seriously, criticism does not equal bashing, and electing is not the end of the journey.

[limpyhobbler]

43. Democrats should try to pick somebody better next time.

Not sure why anybody would find that statement shocking.

He tried to cut Social Security and raise the Medicare eligibility age. That's pretty sleazy.

We can do better. Lets ask people to make commitments on important issues before we vote for them in the primaries.

What's so shocking about that, I dunno. Seems like common sense to me.

[JDPriestly]

20. The 1% would be foolish to favor cutting Social Security.

The average Social Security benefit is between $1200 and $1300 per month.

The poverty level is $11,170 for a single person per month. If they lowered Social Security, more American seniors would fall under the poverty level and be entitled to other benefits to make up the shortfall. Social Security is, on the average, just a little bit more than enough to keep seniors barely above the poverty level.

Also, if they lower Social Security benefits for the middle class, some of whom have 401(K)s and other stock market investments, there will be an increase in the amount of money taken out of the stock market to supplement the income shortfalls of the seniors.

Either way, the 1% will pay either in terms of higher taxes just to keep seniors above the poverty level and paying their rent and property taxes or in terms of lowered liquidity and thus lower values in the stock market.

The 1% will have to either admit to harming a lot of innocent and helpless elderly people beyond employable age and often disabled or pay their taxes. They will pay their taxes eventually.

What we need is a minimum tax with no deductions for people with gross incomes of over one million per year. No deductions even for charitable donations or pet horses.

[llmart]

45. $11,170 for a single person per MONTH???

I don't think so.

I think the poverty level should be raised. I just applied for SS and my benefit is $985 per month. Try living on that.

[yurbud]

37. they need to say the progressive way to "fix" it without screwing us:

raise the cap on income subject to the tax.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. THANK YOU BERNIE

Some folks at DU think you're some sort of ignoramus or agent provocateur, but the rest of us believe that we owe you a debt of gratitude for your unrelenting efforts.

It's "difficult people" like you and Elizabeth Warren who will finally end the 30-year bipartisan war against us little folks.

[limpyhobbler]

7. +1

That guy is awesome.

[graham4anything]

31. two of you remind me of White Christmas & Bing Crosby..."everybody got an angle"

you guys like Elizabeth warren and are actively promoting this newbe senator for office higher

The vast majority of the democratic party knows President45 will be Hillary Rodham and she will continue the historic forward movement we are seeing.

Of course, President Lincoln, FDR, LBJ, Jimmy Carter and Bill clinton before 44 and 45 also had haters.or detractors.
Simply the best Presidents always do.

President Obama is a singular historic president, one of the best of all time.
Hillary45 as President45 will continue and also be a singular historic president

but as I look at the snow outside my window this early morning I again am reminded of the movie White Christmas(c) and how Bing Crosby as Wallace so fabulously boffo said
"Come on Miss Haynes, everybody has a little larceny in them, everybody has an angle"

yup x1000 Bing!

Merry Christmas.

(btw-Bernie does a great job as a provactuer, but like Dennis Kucinich knows there are limits as both showed at the end of the health care debate).

President Obama forever.
You ain't getting anything better. EVER in this generation.
It has been 50 years since the last great president left office (Lyndon Baines Johnson) and of course a wedge issue took him down and divided the dems. Stupid, stupid dems.

everything that happened bad after, was a direct cause of those dems that sold LBJ down the river and gave us Nixon/Ford/Bush/Reagan/Bush and want to give us Jeb Bush by putting President Obama down.

(and same dumb people believed Nader the traitor and his Bush/Gore were the same.

Yeah, how did that one work for you?

[Gman]

8. The easiest and best SS & Medicare fix of all is

just remove the cap on FICA and Medicare. Problem fixed and the programs are funded for many decades to come.

[freshwest]

12. He has put a bill in for that and Obama and Reid also said they supported it. That's the only change

needed to make the tax on it progressive.

It won't deny higher wage earners anything when it's time. But 'means testing' is much more complex.

Bernie Sanders Has An Amazingly Simple Idea To Fix Social Security For The Next 75 Years

The 1% isn’t going to like this one

Great graphic explaining it on the post here, but I can't get it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002744619

Bernie's 2011 bill, but with the GOP, it didn't go anywhere:

Sen Sanders Introduces Bill To Lift Payroll Tax Cap-Ensuring Full Social Security Funding For 75 yr

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4973503

Now, here is some of the latest on this:

Dem Senator Introduces Bill To Lift Social Security’s Tax Cap, Extend Its Solvency For Decades

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021835303

From Pelosi and Reid's side of it:

Pelosi and Reid Have OBAMA's BACK: No Social Security Cuts & Taxes MUST Be RAISED On The RICH

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021843971

Sorry those are just links, but I gotta call it a night.

[yurbud]

40. It's pretty bad when we can point out the solution in one sentence and

most of our elected "representatives" will do backflips to avoid saying the same thing.

[ReRe]

9. Yes! A step in the right direction.....

K&R

Now comes the next step, and the next step, and the next step....

and then the juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmp!

Me thinks I like the way things are STARTING to shape up!

[sheshe2]

11. ReRe

I could not agree with you more!

[freshwest]

13. It's been so long coming, we'll be sore from pinching ourselves! But it's close!

[sheshe2]

14. Sore is good...

no pain no gain.

Great post! Thank you so very much!

[sackabanana]

15. gracias

Thanks for the good tydings, Bernie

[hrmjustin]

16. Welcome to DU!

[sheshe2]

17. Welcome to DU!

[ReRe]

22. Ola, mi amigo!

Welcome from a fellow newcomer. Did I say that right ("Hello, ny friend?&quot

[grahamhgreen]

18. Great! Now we raise the cap (and let me put in more and get back more...)

[fasttense]

32. Sounds like Obama has not fallen for the RepubliCON lies about Social Security

and he wont turnover our Social Security Trust Fund at over $2 Trillion to line billionaires' pockets.

[freshwest]

39. Obama, from Day One in 2009, said Social Security would not be privatized while he was POTUS.

Last edited Wed Nov 28, 2012, 01:49 PM - Edit history (1)

But pressure will remain through 2014 and we must build a candidate for office in 2016. The GOP have billions of dollars with which they pay their friends, some of our fellow citizens, and will be working on their goals.

We must work hard, because if we stand down in 2014 and allow the GOP to gain control, all bets are off. The battle grounds are still the states.

Their mission since Social Security was founded has been to destroy it. That won't stop, despite their fingerpointing at Nordquist as the architect. Their goal has always been to defeat any national safety net and reduce the rights of others.

JMHO.

[ProSense]

33. Van Hollen takes Medicare age increase and Social Security off the table

Van Hollen takes Medicare age increase and Social Security off the table
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021891741#post19

Good news all around.

[Zorra]

41. Yay! If Bernie says it,

you can take it to from the bank!

[freshwest]

42. Agreed.